Failed Tax-Cut Experiment (in North Carolina) Will Continue Under Final Budget Agreement, Pushes Fiscal Reckoning Down the Line

The final budget agreement from leaders of the House and Senate puts North Carolina on precarious fiscal footing in the second-half of the second fiscal year of the two-year budget and beyond. The tax changes that leaders agreed to—which were less a compromise and more of a decision to combine the tax cuts in both chambers’ proposals—make the cost of these tax cuts bigger than what either chamber proposed.

Approximately 80 percent of the net tax cut since 2013 will have gone to the top 20 percent. More than half of the net tax cut will go to the top 1 percent.